05.08.98

The possessive does not possess an apostrophe

Posted in General at 11 pm

Boy it’s been busy. I’m tutoring a local design company, I’ve got three sites at work that are are driving hard towards deadlines. Teeg is staying for a couple of nights this week. Amy has been to the dentist twice in the past two days and is in constant pain. I’ve been able to keep up on my personal e-mail for the most part, but there’s still a few important ones that are outstanding.

I’m feeling really tired. I hope I can get some time to relax soon. Talk about being on a treadmill, I feel like I’m running up the down escalator.

In other news check out the new iMac at Apple’s site. http://www.apple.com/ It’s beautiful. Read all the details. It’s interesting to see what’s in it as much as what’s not!

“The possessive does not possess an apostrophe.” That’s how I remember whether to use it’s or its.

“The due date is not the do date.” That’s a new one that I came up with last week. I made a little sign and hung it at my desk at work.

Should I talk about my failings, online? My faults? This can be read by anyone including potential clients. I have a tendency to write about short-comings rather than strengths. I have seen over and over how problems later on could have been avoided by being up-front with problems and difficulties. I know this and yet the desire to be perfect for others – ego – stands in the way. Everyday is a fight against it. Wins and loses deserve equal time, no?

<R>

04.29.98

You don't have to sell us

Posted in General at 11 pm

Today I met with a new potential business client/partner. I had lunch with a couple of guys with strong design backgrounds who want to put together a design house that can handle multimedia. They seem to feel that I’m just the guy they’re looking for for web development.

Within the first 3 minutes of talking with them, one said, “You don’t have to sell us on yourself.”

That was interesting to hear. Validating, certainly, but I always felt my strongest method of communicating my strengths was by discussing the background behind the design choices that I’ve made with my sites.

It seems odd to have my work taken on it’s own merit. I usually feel obligated to list some of the constraints I was under or the timeframe. Not this time though.

Amy and I are having a bit of an argument, I think. I know she’s not feeling well (hayfever?) but tonight she seemed to have her heart set on having a drink at the Pied Cow (coffeeshop) out in the little enclosed yard they have. Unfortunately it was full, and I think it upset her.

I haven’t been Mr. Happy camper tonight either. I think we’re feeding off each other a bit.

<#>

04.26.98

Paralysis

Posted in General at 6 pm

I came to an interesting conclusion yesterday. When I hold back my emotions, I become paralyzed in whatever situation I’m in. I’m not sure what it means, but since this revelation, I now see this very clearly in other situations I’ve been in.

I’m not trying to be cryptic, but this is such a basic revelation that to give a specific example would undermine the enormity of the concept.

When I hold back my emotions, I become paralyzed.

This needs some more investigation, by all means.

(Right now I’m posting this from the Metro Washington Park Zoo, nigh the Oregon Zoo, http://www.zooregon.org who I’m working with on the ZooWatch Project.)

<:>

04.24.98

Mistakes from 3 Time Zones Away

Posted in General at 12 pm

If you see the two entries below, they’re from a second version of this form that I’m working on. At Bad-Seed.org, I’m trying to get the news posting service up and running. Unfortunately, I had the entry form still point towards OMSI’s server rather than BSO’s.

This Internet thing is strange. One little mess up and I’m altering things that are three time zones away. Very, Very Weird.

The good news is that the news system is working like a charm! I’m making progress on BSO. That’s a good sign!

<->

Untitled

Posted in General at 12 pm

Does it work?

<->

04.23.98

Mister Frankenbery

Posted in General at 9 pm

This week has been a struggle.

I’m really frustrated with the lack of progress I’m getting in trying to launch my web sites at work. It’s really dragging me down.

But in other news, a friend from Grand Rapids, Michigan has moved out here to Portland. Last night Amy and I went out to dinner with him. It was really nice.

I haven’t had a lot of male company in the past year or so, so it’s nice to find a guy to hang out with. We’ve got a male-bonding night on the way, I can feel it.

In brighter news, my canker sores finally cleared up (I think it was the Lysine) and Amy and I are enjoying our relationship a bit more. A kiss is just a kiss, but when you can’t kiss, it’s really difficult.

I got in touch with my high school computers teacher recently. He sent a small note that really made my day this morning. I guess when I get frustrated with the present, I should take a look back at the past and see the over-all climb, rather than the recent rocky roads. (is that mixing metaphors?)

I’ve still got to take this journal software and turn it into a news posting software for <http://www.bad-seed.org> sometime soon. But there’s tons of stuff I should do, right? 🙂

<&>

04.15.98

Local Art College Presentation

Posted in General at 6 pm

After some fun times with the car it looks like I’ll file my taxes a whole 5 hours early! 🙂

This is the first year that I’ve waited quite this long to do everything. I was expecting the worst, so I kept putting it off. I didn’t have much to worry about, so I’m in the clear.

The Webmaster’s meeting I went to yesterday night was great. It’s very small group, but I’m sure it will grow while the word about it grows… I wonder if I should bring someone to the next meeting.

It looks like I might be giving a talk to a class at the local art college about CGI’s and the Web. I guess they have a web program that get’s pretty technical. Maybe they’ll trade me some chats for some class time. I’d love to get some formal art training, particularly in illustration!

<->

04.13.98

PDF Taxes

Posted in General at 2 pm

I’m still not-quite-so-quietly suffering from this canker sore. Fortunately my new insurance card came in the mail this weekend. time to get a physical and let the doc take a look at this thing.

I’m wondering if any of my clients will see this journal.

Zoo Watch is coming along nicely, but it’s hard to get a hold of people up there. I just need someone to copy and paste some text in an e-mail. Is it that hard?

I worked on some organization around the office. I’m almost getting everything filed. It’s strange!

Speaking of filing, I’ve figured out the numbers but I still gotta fill out my tax forms. This is the first year I’ve filled out a 1040A. I was expecting the worst, but it wasn’t that bad. For some reason the PDF files from the IRS won’t print… (#$*&@?@!!)

Gotta pick Amy up from her PCOS meeting. She was just given the title “Director of PR (Internet)” or something similar. So now she speaks for the entire international organization when it comes to the Internet!! Ohmygahd! I’m so proud of her! I know she’ll do great!

<&>

04.11.98

Cave Inn Updates

Posted in General at 11 am

Taxes to do….

I actually updated the Cave Inn! My god! It’s amazing…

I’m really behind on my Nick Cave stuff. Gotta get moving on bad-seed.org as well.

Site to check out: <http://www.techweb.com/tools/proddesign/9803/980325xml.html>

<->

04.10.98

Remote Report

Posted in General at 12 pm

This is new. I’m adding an entry from Amy’s Mac. I just installed Netscape 4.05 for her and thought I’d give it a spin.

I took a look at OMSI’s front page. It’s boring. Ugg. 🙁 I’m really unhappy with it. Not that I don’t have enough OMSI stuff on my plate what with getting Forest Puzzles out the door (Which actually looks good. I’m happier with it.), trying to get the Zoo Watch project out the door and trying to keep up with this other possible grant that coming up.

I actually like the keyboard on Amy’s Mac. I haven’t used this style before. It’s quite responsive.

It seems that whenever I get really stressed, I get mouth sores. The past couple of weeks I’ve had an outbreak that just won’t quit. I hate going around scowling all the time. Plus now my lips are chapping. Ugg.

I figured out how and then ran a link check on the live OMSI site. Out of 8000 links about 200 were broken and half were easily fixed. I know it’s procrastinating, but what’s a guy to do?

Amy wants her computer back. Bye now!

((=))